Ban on foreign channels

Letter November 30, 2011
It is quite easy for someone with an internet connection to watch the BBC online.

KARACHI: What gives cable operators in Pakistan the right to block the BBC or, for that matter, any other foreign news channel? We are not living in the Dark Ages where such things would perhaps work. We are living in the 21st century, in an era where it is next to impossible for governments to regulate or control the flow of information, let alone private cable operators.

If foreign news channels are spread propaganda against Pakistan, then local news channels should try and counter it, or PTV should. How is banning a particular channel going to help? In any case, technology being what it is today, it is quite easy for someone with an internet connection to watch the BBC online.


Such actions are not only a product of an intolerant mindset, they also breed further intolerance and extremism. Such knee-jerk reactions are not in our best interests, since they leave us unable to know how we are being projected and seen in the eyes of the rest of the world.


We need to have an open mindset, one that is willing to tackle any criticism hurled at us.


Omar Haleem


Published in The Express Tribune, December 1st, 2011.